PARKERSBURG — City officials said a successful referendum on an ordinance authorizing a trash contract with Waste Management would not restore municipal sanitation service.

“We do not have a Sanitation Department to reinstate,” Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said. “There’s only four employees left in the Sanitation Department.”

Manpower issues were cited when city officials began looking into contracting out trash and recycling services last year. Filings by the city in a property owner’s since-denied request for an investigation by the West Virginia Public Service Commission indicated there were 10-12 vacancies among the department’s 27 budgeted staff positions in 2024, a number that has continued to increase.

Organizers have until Friday to submit at least 2,763 signatures from registered voters in Parkersburg to force council to reconsider the ordinance, passed in January on a pair of 6-3 votes. Opposition to the shift from a city-provided to a contracted trash service has been vocal at council meetings, with some people saying the city should continue to provide solid waste and recycling services and increase workers’ pay to address manpower issues.

If enough signatures are submitted and council does not vote to repeal it, the question would go to the ballot for voters to decide.

But if that happens, it would not result in the continuation of city-operated trash service, Parkersburg City Council President Andrew Borkowski said in a press release.

“I am fully supportive of all citizens’ rights to petition their government, but we all want to be certain the correct message is being relayed (and we) don’t possibly end up with unintended consequences of signing the petition,” he said. “The referendum, if successful, would nullify the city’s contract with Waste Management. This result would not restore a city solid waste or recycling service.”

Borkowski said that “some of those soliciting signatures have said this referendum effort will keep city operated trash service, which is not true.”

Eric Engle, a Parkersburg resident and member of the petition committee, said he is not aware of anyone collecting signatures who has said that but acknowledged “it is a possibility that someone has said that when asked.”

Under the five-year contract, Waste Management would charge the city $17.65 per customer over the first two years, with the price increasing after that to $18.89 in the third year, $20.21 in the fourth and $21.62 in the fifth.

An ordinance on final reading at tonight’s 7:30 p.m. council meeting would reduce the monthly sanitation fee from $22 to $21, including a $1.50 recycling surcharge. The city would continue to collect the fee and pay Waste Management.

If the contract is nullified, Borkowski said, it would create a situation where residents have to sign up for trash service on their own. In some cases, he said, that could result in residents being charged higher rates than under the city’s plan and having to pay for multiple months in advance, while still having the limits on how much trash could be picked up, which some residents have criticized.

“Most important to me, non-payment … could result in loss of service, allowing trash to accumulate at residences who get behind on their payments,” Borkowski said. “This will not only make our town look dirty, but also create unnecessary health hazards.”

Joyce said one of the reasons he advocated for the city to pay the bills is to ensure trash continues to get picked up, even if a customer doesn’t pay. The city would cover that cost and pursue the unpaid fees.

“I think this is the best solution to the current situation,” Joyce said.

If the Waste Management contract is voided, Joyce said he sees “very few, if any, other options” to residents signing up for their own trash service with private companies. That’s how other municipalities in the county operate, he said, noting it would likely require some action by council or the administration.

City Attorney Blaine Myers declined to weigh in at this time on what would happen if the referendum petition is successful.

However, in a Wood County Circuit Court filing agreeing to an extended deadline for the petition in light of a winter storm organizers said hampered their ability to gather signatures, Myers noted the city reserved its right to determine the ordinance is not subject to the referendum provision in the municipal charter. The charter says the referendum power “shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any emergency ordinance or ordinance relating to appropriation of money, levy of taxes or salaries of City officers or employees.”

Sanitation has been a topic of debate in the city for more than a year, starting in late 2024 when some employees in the department and residents requested pay increases for the workers as council was considering boosting the mayor and council salaries, something that can only be done outside the four-year term in which the new rates would take effect.

A joint Parkersburg City Council committee voted in June to seek requests for proposals from companies to provide solid waste and recycling services, eventually receiving bids from Waste Management and Rumpke. A separate request for proposals was issued in November for a separate, subscription-based recycling service, for which only Rumpke submitted a bid.

The ordinance approving that contract is also on final reading tonight.

The initial request for proposals came less than a month after the city suspended its own curbside-recycling service, with Joyce citing staffing issues and increased call-offs.

With the move to contracted service gaining momentum, there were just five dedicated sanitation employees recently, with the city using workers from other departments and temporary employees from an employment agency and the Parkersburg Correctional Center to cover routes.

Joyce said one of them transferred to another public works department and only two of those remaining have commercial driver’s licenses required to operate sanitation trucks. One of them plans to retire.

The remaining workers will be offered the option to transfer to another department or receive a severance package equal to their pay for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends June 30.